Efficient recovery of oil spills has presented major problems and particularly in the ability to recover spills extending over large surface areas of a body of water. In the past, suction devices have been employed that typically will draw the oil spill off of the surface of the water through horizontal pipes or lateral suction devices. As a result, the percentage recovery of the oil spill to water itself is relatively low and therefore is time consuming to the point that the oil spill will tend to spread faster than it can be cleaned up. Conventionally, the separation equipment must be mounted on board a stable platform or onshore and the suction equipment in some manner must be towed behind a vessel. Relatively high capacity pumps and compressors are required for recovery, handling and separation of the contaminant material from the water. The recovery equipment which is towed behind the vessel further suffers from lack of efficiency when used in rough or roilly seas and can be difficult to control or steer under such conditions.
Representative of approaches which have been taken in the past is the skimming apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,788 to J. A. Ward which comprises an open framework having floats at spaced intervals and a pumping section which communicates via a flexible conduit into a separating device. The apparatus is primarily intended for use in secondary oil recovery pits but not designed for towing and requires that the oil rich layer of the top surface of the pit be drawn over fin sections and a plate into a downspout which communicates with the pump at the center of the apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,482 to J. Y. Shyu is also a stationary device which employs tubes extending from one end of a panel with a float and anchor at the opposite end of each tube section to make the device buoyant, and the oil is collected through a collecting tube underneath the panel into a container for separating the oil and water by gravity and permit removal of the oil to a nearby ship.
It is therefore desirable to provide for a method and apparatus for the recovery or removal of contaminants from the surface of a body of water which can be deployed from a vessel and achieve rapid and efficient recovery of contaminant materials over large water surface areas, can be steered or controlled by remote control from a vessel and when not in use can be stored in a compact condition so as to occupy relatively little space on the vessel.